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In the early 1950’s four of us, all under ten years old, decided to investigate, having heard about secret tunnels from family tales.  The former Manor House, having been divided up, was then being used as Alms Houses, still owned by Clinton Devon Estates, who sold them a couple of years later to the District Council.  

Two houses appeared to be empty so having found the hatch to gain entry in the back garden of one, we descended with difficulty down the very deep stone steps.  It was not totally dark as flues in the side of the walls let light in from above ground, but we did not have a torch.   The very large Chamber which ran the length of the building had three passages leading from it.   

The first in the North West corner we now know led to the cellars of Church Cottage which, although bricked up, is still visible from the cellar of that building.  The next in the South West corner went in the direction of Otterton Barton. The last which was pointing to the South East seemed to lead in the direction of the Church.  Years later I heard that it led to the “Stoke Hole” under the church where the children used to have a Sunday club.  

Another point of interest is the stone tracery of a large window, a replica of the one that can be seen on the end of the Manor House, but this is now under ground.  

When the houses were sold to the District Council they erected a brick wall cutting off more than half of the Chamber, and bricked up the entrance to the one passage leading to Church Cottage.  Unfortunately there is no other access so no one will now be able to investigate them properly.  I had the opportunity to go down again in 1987 with a group of Otterton School children. 

During the 1980’s, archaeologists with Desna Greenhow of Otterton Mill examined the cellars and were of the opinion that they date from the C13-C14 and possibly were the kitchens of the old priory.  The Manor House had been built on the ruins of the Priory in the 1540’s by Richard Duke.  What they couldn’t examine were the passages to see if they were of the same date and therefore used by the French Priors or created later.  It is known that the Priors left Otterton around 1414, the Manor was subsequently given by the King to Syon Abbey in Middlesex.  It is probable that the Priory buildings were left to disintegrate to ruins. 

Various local stories over the years have nearly all connected the passages with smuggling, some stories more extreme than others.  If they are as old as the chamber, why are they underground, why connecting cellar to cellar?   

Otterton Barton was the home of the wealthy Drake family during the late C15.  Statues of their heraldic Wyvern Argent adorned the barn roofs, as replica’s still do, and their recorded histories always mention their interests in Shipping.  According to the listed buildings survey Otterton Barton, as it is now, dates from the early C16, so was probably built by the Duke family around the same time as the Manor House.  It must have replaced an earlier building as this main branch of the Drake family had left the village by this time. 

Maybe Church Cottage was the home of the then Vicar, traditionally often involved in smuggling! 

Submitted by Roz Hickman © 2011 

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